Many may believe that when football season is over in the SEC, a vacuum is created in the sports landscape across the states that make up the conference (except maybe Kentucky where basketball is king). But in a Birmingham suburb ironically named Hoover, that vacuum is filled in the spring by the SEC baseball tournament which in most recent years has been a springboard for at least two conference teams to reach Omaha for the College World Series.
This may be the perfect time for the growth of popularity in the sport as 2016 marks the 50th anniversary of the CWS. Over the last few years, attendance at Series games has increased, with a record 353,378 fans attending games in 2015. And the NCAA Division I Board has just approved a pilot program to sell alcohol at this year’s CWS, certainly motivated in part by the goal of attracting even more fans to the games.
Since the birth of the SEC Network in August 2014, many more SEC baseball games are available on the air. The network will broadcast 75 SEC baseball games this season starting on opening night on March 18 with a “Bases Loaded” special covering all seven games across the conference, and culminating with the SEC Tournament May 24-29.
This year’s preseason polls are already projecting more success for SEC teams; in fact, more than any other conference. The USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll (pictured left) ranks seven SEC teams in the Top 25, with four of those teams making up the top five. Florida is ranked at No. 1 with Louisville in second place. The other teams in the top five are Vanderbilt, Texas A&M and LSU, respectively. Mississippi State is ranked at No. 17, Arkansas at No. 22 and South Carolina at No. 23.
The polls are not surprising: between 2009 and 2014, an SEC school has won four of six titles (LSU in 2009, South Carolina in 2010 and 2011, and Vanderbilt in 2014). In each of those six years, at least one SEC team finished in the top four in the CWS. The 2011 Series championship was played between two SEC schools, with South Carolina beating Florida.
Given the success of SEC baseball teams, it shouldn’t be surprising that the sport is close on the heels of the SEC’s second most popular sport of basketball in terms of attendance. And while it may be a long way from cracking the attendance and viewership numbers that a football program like Alabama has, it could soon rival those numbers at schools without standout gridiron programs.
In 2013, five SEC schools – LSU, Arkansas, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and South Carolina – each had annual attendance statistics over the baseball season of over 230,000 fans. LSU alone had a total of 413,636, which is about the same as 4½ sold-out football games at Tiger Stadium.
Chris Burke, who was an All-American and SEC Player of the Year while at Tennessee and played for the Astros in the majors, has returned to the conference as an analyst for the SEC Network. He says that the SEC East is the most competitive division in NCAA Division I baseball, with a depth that makes it difficult for other teams to beat.
Some of the success of the SEC baseball may be attributed to the mild weather when the season starts. When other conferences are trying to play and attract fans in weather that at the worst could still include snow and at the best may be freezing, weather in March in the South can include some beautiful sunny days in the 70s and even warmer. After missing football for a couple of months and being cooped up in gymnasiums if they attend basketball games, a college double-header on a beautiful spring day can be a welcome rite of spring in the South for fans of college sports.
Not only does this difference from other conferences benefit the perennial favorites, but also bodes well for mid-majors. Some of the mid-majors such as Florida International (FIU), Florida Atlantic (FAU) and Southeastern Louisiana have been top competitors. These schools could easily follow on the heels of their larger counterpartss to more successful programs with higher attendance and more televised games.
Outside the SEC, the ACC has also had considerable success in growing its baseball programs. The USA Today poll has six ACC teams on the list, led by Louisville at No. 2 and including last year’s champion Virginia ranked 7th. Other ACC schools in the poll include Miami (No. 6), FSU (N0. 14), NC State (No. 19) and North Carolina (No. 20). Note that many of these programs fall into the warmer climates as well.
Another factor that may help promote NCAA baseball in general is the experience of the Association’s new head of baseball, Ron Prettyman, who has experienced college baseball from several perspectives: he was the AD at Indiana State for 11 years. He was on the NCAA Division I baseball committee and even has a son who was recruited to play for perennial power Cal State Fullerton. His goal is to see an “annual improvement” of the sport.
Interestingly, in a recent interview, Prettyman also implies the weather advantages of warmer climates. Randy Mazey, head baseball coach at West Virginia, has proposed starting the season later which would push the conclusion of the season, and the CWS, into the summer. But Prettyman sees issues with that that could undo some of the growing popularity of the sport. During the summer, students aren’t on campus and the cost factor of keeping teams on campus when other college activities are geared down would likely create additional costs. Other proposals include shortening the season or playing some games in the fall, but neither of those scenarios would necessarily benefit the SEC and could even be detrimental to SEC baseball attendance if required to compete with football in the fall.
“Omaha, Omaha” may be known mostly these days as part of Peyton Manning’s snap count, but as the popularity of college baseball continues to grow, Omaha and the College World Series will also become the Holy Grail of its fans. While athletic directors can’t control the weather and make every baseball game a pleasant outdoor experience for its school’s fans, the SEC and other schools in the southern regions of the U.S. are creating a blueprint for other ways to achieve success in attendance, enthusiasm and, ultimately the other Holy Grail of college sports: revenue.
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